Science Fantasy Romance 3 - Director Chen Saves the Day

Director Chen Saves the Day

SF003

Available at

Amazon.com * Amazon.co.uk

Smashwords

Kobo * Sony * Diesel

Barnes & Noble

DriveThruFiction

Collected in

A Future Darkly

Blurb

A fast-paced tale of a taciturn administrator’s behind-the-scenes juggle to keep his asteroid from being blown up and to pay the bills on time.

Memories

before reading

I hand-wrote this story in an incredibly boring meeting which had very little to do with me, then I essentially rewrote the whole thing when I typed it up. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I mention Ceres in my fiction, though. I’d revisit that colony many a time. I remember that the characters were fun, and that the story was pretty funny...but I don’t remember the plot. Guys, this is either going to be good, or really, really bad.

Review

after reading

I think this is the kind of story that arises when writers throw down the gauntlet. “I double-dog dare ya to write a story about the background coordinator in the over-the-top SF action story. Oh, and he can’t talk.” ...OK, I’m not going to nominate this one for the Hugo, but I laughed out loud, twice. It’s a fun story, guys, and I really like the setting.

Next Week

Drugs are Legal, People Ain’t

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Science Fantasy Romance 2 - Deep Sleep

Deep Sleep

SF002

Available at

Amazon.com * Amazon.co.uk

Smashwords

Kobo * Sony * Diesel

Barnes & Noble

DriveThruFiction

Collected in

A Future Darkly

Blurb

A teenage psion wakes up alone on a failing colony ship. As her memory returns, she struggles to survive and escape to the planet’s surface.

Memories

before reading

This story was my favorite—of the ‘dark ones’—for a long time, and I used it as a showpiece of sorts whenever anybody said “I want to read something you’ve written!” I remember a crude drawing of the spaceship I made, which I’d love to show you but it has perished. This is one of the few stories I went back and rewrote, which means, as I sit down to read, I’m a little worried my memories of the Creative story will be ruined by Mr. Editor...

Review

after reading

Whew! That’s a good story. As I read, I remembered what Mr. Editor did, which was save the story. In the first draft, the ship’s computer had been an entirely unnecessary character, its entire purpose easily edited down to a log entry. I can see (but you can’t) the brush-strokes where Mr. Editor cleaned up Creative’s sloppy timeline, smoothing out the flash-backs while driving the survival horror plot. Oh, and he changed the ending. Good work, Mr. Editor. This time. This story reminds me how much more confident I’ve become in my Creative voice in the year or so since I wrote it, but I’ll still hold it up a showpiece for Science Fantasy Romance. 

Next Time

Director Chen Saves the Day

Thanks for reading!

feel free to comment